This is my first season as a coach with the Alberta Ski Team and what a ride it’s been so far. I was an athlete with the team for four years between 2010 and 2014 before I transitioned into coaching. Over the past four years, I coached at the FIS, U16 and U14 levels while getting my undergrad in Physical Literacy at Mount Royal University. I knew once I had completed my degree I wanted to coach in the high-performance stream so when an opportunity with the Alberta Team came up it was the perfect fit. I have been with the team since September and am enjoying working with the awesome staff and athletes here.

Most recently, November saw the boys at Alberta Alpine trying to grow upper lip sweaters in support of the Movember Foundation. It was fairly successful for some; others….well it’s a good thing we’re here to ski. The team has been on the road for the last little while and is currently in Panorama. With the early season Sun Peaks and Norquay races in the bag, it was time to switch gears to NorAms. Everyone has been putting in work in the gym over the summer months and has had some focused time on snow in the fall which resulted in some podium results for both Claire and Tora at Sun Peaks and Norquay respectively. With these recent results, there is definitely an excitement surrounding the start of the NorAm season. Andrew, Angus, Claire and Ashleigh made their way to Lake Louise following the World Cups for a week of speed NorAms while Caeden and Tora spent the week hitting the books in anticipation of our current two-week push in Panorama. Racing this time of year can be a challenge as it is quite a full schedule. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the athletes will have raced 17 times in 21 days!

The group as a whole has been skiing well and confidence is high coming into these races. Ashleigh, unfortunately, had a crash our first day here in Panorama and is currently at home recovering. She is doing well and should be back with the team soon. We are sending you healing vibes Ash! Seeing a teammate go down is always tough but the team rallied during the first two days of SG which saw some results for the crew as a whole and a NorAm junior podium for Claire. We are looking forward to keeping this momentum rolling into the next five days of tech races. Following the NorAms this week the team will have a day off before the Panorama Christmas FIS Series. Following the FIS Series, the team will have some time off at home to recharge before we head out east for the next series of tech NorAms.

If you’d like to keep up to date on the team and current happenings check us out on Instagram @albertaskiteam.

The team just got back from our first race in Sun Peaks! All of us were eager to get back into racing and finally get this season rolling! Even with challenging conditions, all the AST athletes persevered and still had some great results. We are now back at home preparing for an extremely busy month of racing ahead. First, we had two slalom races in Norquay this past weekend and immediately afterwards we’re headed to Lake Louise for NorAms. Unfortunately, I won’t be racing in the speed events at Lake Louise NorAms, but want to wish everyone good luck! My eyes will be glued to live timing! After Lake Louise, we travel to Panorama for another NorAm series and finish December’s races competing in some more FIS tech races. The team has a full schedule all the way up until the holidays! Anyways, I want to wish everyone good luck in their upcoming season. Can’t wait to see everyone out on the slopes!

Thank you to our generous sponsors; Western GMC Buick, Descente and Sporting Life.

Snow flurries linger in the distance, the sound of skis as sharp as blades pierce the ice as a loudspeaker announcements echo through the pine forest. Hopes are high and suspense sets in as alpine racers from all over the world arrive at the first speed race of the year; the Lake Louise Audi World Cup.

Our own Alberta Ski Team & Banff Alpine Racers alumni and Alberta local, Jeff Read, is amongst the hopefuls who will race his first Lake Louise World Cup this weekend. Last year the 21-year-old was a forerunner during the men’s race but this year he has qualified to compete. “I’m definitely very excited about it. I get to finally compete; I’ve wanted to do that for a while so that’s pretty exciting.”

This year marks 28 years since Lake Louise sent their first racer down the track. Jeff’s father; Ken Read was one of them. The track boasts 800 vertical meters of winding descent and speeds that can reach up to 140 km/h. Considerably well over the speed limit permitted in the Banff National Park.

Although the world cup circuit is relatively new to him, Jeff has skied the track since he was child, “Over the years I’ve been coming here and skiing the downhill track for fun with parents or with the club so [I’ve] definitely been on the track there for many, many, years.” Because Read is new to the World Cup circuit he will be starting deeper in the pack, with bib number likely in the forties or fifties. However, he remains confident in his training and is striving to break into the top 30, a result that would earn him his first World Cup points. His current 2nd place ranking in the 2017-18 Nor-Am downhill standings offers him an automatic World Cup spot to compete with the best in the world. Jeffery also placed 4th in Nor-Am overall and final Super G standings by seasons end.

The men set off the races starting Nov 24, with downhill, followed by the more technical Super G on Sunday. The event is free to anyone who wishes to watch from the finish line at the base of Lake Louise Gondola.

A diet rich in vegetables and fruits is a great way to build variety, create balance, and increase vitamins. Veggies can be challenging to include in the diet. Veggies can be challenging to include in the diet as they take prep work and if we get to hungry its not the thing we reach for as we are needing a quick energy source. Vegetables are rich in vitamins (Like Vitamin C and A; minerals/ electrolytes (examples: calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium), and phytochemicals (examples: antioxidants, Isoflavones, Indoles, allicin).2 Each one of these things is important for optimum sports performance recovery, immunity and day to day living. Additionally, fruits and vegetables are a source of dietary fiber which is necessary for a healthy bowel.

The Daily recommendation for an adult is 5-9 servings a day for veggies and fruits. 1 Serving of veggies is ~ 1cup of either spinach, romaine, collard greens, ½ cup of either peppers, carrots, zucchini, or 1 medium piece of fruit.

The following are some tips and tricks for improving or increasing your intake of vegetables.

Include vegetables in a sauce:

Sautee Spinach into a pasta sauce

Chopped carrots, celery, peppers to make it go further

Chile

Make your chili go further and throw in all your veggies in that may be about to go off

Include it into a Smoothie: (pineapple bliss smoothie, raspberry kale smoothie)

Kale

Spinach

Sandwiches

Add roasted peppers, zucchini or mushrooms

Alpha sprouts

Add some crunch with Cabbage

Omelet (eggcellent way to get extra veggies in)

Toss is favourite veggies

Veggie Kabobs

Pizza Toppings

Add Veggies to your favorite pizza

Dip it

Take your favorite dip to have with veggies for a snack or a side for dinner

]]>http://albertaalpine.ca/2018/11/22/grassroots-nutrition-how-to-increase-veggies/feed/02019 AST Athlete Journal: Caeden Carruthershttp://albertaalpine.ca/2018/11/22/athlete-journal-caeden-carruthers/
http://albertaalpine.ca/2018/11/22/athlete-journal-caeden-carruthers/#respondThu, 22 Nov 2018 17:56:13 +0000http://albertaalpine.ca/?p=8318View Article]]>Hey everyone! After our first few weeks on snow at Nakiska, The Alberta Ski Team headed to Kamloops November 19th for our first races of the season in Sun Peaks. We’ve been training with high intensity and volume and pushing each other every day. The first few weeks on snow were about fine-tuning technical and tactical goals everyone was working towards in Saas Fee and getting ready to race!

On Nov 16th we received our team uniform and everyone is super happy with how everything turned out, I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Bruce LeGree and Descente for the gear as well as Sporting life and Western GMC Buick! Wishing everyone good luck with their pre-season training and the rest of their season.

The video I’ve done for my athlete journal comprises of pre-season training at Nakiska and dryland workouts at CSI-Calgary, Winsport.